How & Why to Use Conflict Types

In yesterday’s post, (click here), I discussed how the secret to a successful novel can be found within the conflict you create for your protagonist. Without conflict, you have no novel. It creates the backbone for your story.

Many novice writers are surprised to learn you don’t find conflict in the explosions, the typhoons, the meteors crashing into the earth. You find conflict in your characters’ emotional reaction to these stimuli.

There are two types of conflict, internal and external, and each brings different amounts of action and tension to your story. Internal conflict, a character at odds with himself, consists of the emotional or psychological predicaments a character faces and the impact it has upon him. In “The Da Vinci Code,” we saw Tom Hank’s fear of enclosed spaces, his claustrophobia. As a writer, you should employ internal conflicts that reflect those universal emotions in people; safety, fear, love, sadness and the like. This is one way to reinforce your readers’ emotional attachment to your story. External conflict, a character at odds with the world around him, is found in the emotional responses your characters experience relative to outside influences. These can be anything from a wound to a troll to a husband-beating wife. This reaction, I think, is the reason the Bruce Willis movies are so well-received. His responses to the many threats he faces are always entertaining, though realistic.

I once read a way to exemplify conflict when writing a novel and I apologize but I do not remember who said it. Regardless, he said to find your hero’s Achilles’ heel and crush it. The tendon is the internal conflict and the crushing is the external. Find your hero’s root emotional vulnerability and use it against him.
I watched the movie, “12 Rounds” the other night and the director handled conflict reasonably well. In one scene, the hero has a difficult decision to make. Should he allow the cops to kill the villain, who has kidnapped the woman in the hero’s life, or should he save the evildoer so his love will live longer. Of course, he saves the bad guy. It isn’t all the screaming, breaking glass and shooting that created the conflict, it’s found in the emotional decision the hero had to make – who lives and who dies – that created the tension. The external conflict came to life in how the hero responded to all the shooting to save two people. The internal conflict grew from his decision to save the bad guy. This combination of internal and external conflict is what you strive for in your novels.

Weakness is the origin of your novel’s conflict and also the source of your hero’s growth.

We’ve all heard our hero needs to grow during the course of the story and become a better person. By overcoming his flaw(s), his growth materializes. As the hero pin-balls from one issue to the next, he must face his fears and, with each new confrontation, he learns how to overcome that which frightens him. Without this growth, rooted in conflict, your reader is robbed of his expected satisfaction. And if your readers won’t be satisfied, why even bother to write the story?

If you have any questions, drop a comment and I’ll see if I can’t assist you on an individual basis.
Until we meet again, I wish you best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze
Twitter.con/CPatrickSchulze

Conflict – The Secret to a Novel’s Success

The secret to any good story is the problem that requires solving. In fact, without this all-important central problem, known as conflict, you have no novel. Conflict is critical for it draws your reader into your story and is the key component that weaves all the elements of your novel together.

The secret to conflict is to know what it is. As I outlined in an earlier post, (click here), conflict is not the crisis or what happens to your characters. It is not the battle, the argument or the deception. Conflict rests upon their thoughts and feelings, toward these events your characters experience. It’s found within the moral choices they make. It’s within the building, then exploding tension between opposing forces.

There are two types of conflict, external and internal. External is obvious, such as lava coursing down the mountainside and setting flame to the town. Internal is less apparent, as might be the feelings of your protagonist when he realizes there is no way to save his business from succumbing to the onslaught of the fiery magma. Further, when dealing with this central clash that swirls about your hero, the successful novel writer will often have a number of lesser conflicts that are birthed due to the premier conflict point. For example, once his livelihood disappears within the flames, his wife leaves him, taking the children with her. (Boy, this guy has had a bad day!)

Regardless the types or amount of conflict, your writing is for naught if you don’t convince your reader to appreciate the power, the importance, of the conflict. They must know and become emotionally involved due to this struggle. As with the family mentioned about, if the readers want the wife to leave, for example, the conflict diminishes, as does your story. (This means the readers need to like your hero, doesn’t it? But that’s for another post.)

To enhance the readers’ interest, insure they see what your hero has to gain and lose. If they never see the flames racing toward the business, or they never learn how unsupportive the wife becomes, their interest will be less than peaked. It’s also helpful if there are negative repercussions to his solving, as well as not solving, the conflict. If your hero must choose between the lesser of evils to resolve the core conflict, you’ll heighten the story even more. For example, would you have greater conflict if your hero watches his business explode in flame knowing his wife will take his children if he loses his business? You bet. There should not be too many conflict points, but regardless their number or how they develop, conflict is at the heart of any novel and must be resolved in one fashion or another. This resolution will make or break your novel. Make sure your conclusion is logical and results from the actions of your hero. It cannot be random or arbitrary.

One last thought about conflict. The guy in the white hat need not always win.

Until we meet again, I wish you best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

The Single Most Important Secret to Landing an Agent

Yesterday in my blog I promised another article about how to find an agent for your novel. As I slaved over the research for today’s post, I searched for those perfect suggestions to include when a thought struck me. The information aspiring authors need is overabundant on the Internet. Multitudinous tomes are rife with just such instructions. With this understanding, I asked what knowledge could I possibly impart that might be new or unique? I slipped away for a cup of coffee but a single thought kept coming back to me, one I heard at a writers’ conference not too long ago.

While attending the James River Writers’ Conference, (@jamesRVRwriters on Twitter), a panel of accomplished agents sat perched behind a wide, draped table in the center of the stage to the front of an auditorium. The subject of the talk was what agents look for when writers send in query letters. I had parked myself in the second or third row, which is where you get the most information at any seminar by the way, and with ballpoint in hand waited to pen the copious notes the speakers would soon convey to launch my writer’s career toward the heavens.

I sat, writing implement poised and waited for that blaze of information to spark my livelihood and make my name a household word within the literary world. The speakers spoke, as speakers do, and I sat pen still poised, and waited for that flash of inspiration so critical to my plans. After about thirty minutes, I still sat, pen now drooping, and started wondering why I’d bothered with this seminar at all. I wasn’t hearing anything I didn’t already know.

Then at last! A note I could smear across the blank page before me! All three speakers attested to the accuracy of this information and with great fervor, I scribbled two numbers and a symbol appeared on the legal pad in my lap.

And that was all.

When the fifty minute seminar concluded, the audience clapped, the speakers smiled and people filtered out of the auditorium and into the halls. I sat, waiting for the crowd to thin, and considered the single note I had written on that otherwise blank sheet of paper. That’s it. That was all I got out of the seminar. Two numbers and a symbol.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The speakers did their job well, the audience was more than appreciative of the panelists’ time and as the writers herded out, the hubbub sounded enthusiastic and engaging. Nice seminar. Even to me, the time had been well spent. I was quite pleased with my one note that read, “90%.”

That number represented the number of authors who, when querying an agent, fail to follow even the most basic instructions required of their query.

Ninety percent of those who query don’t write a professional letter. Ninety percent don’t include a phone number for the agent to request a partial. Ninety percent don’t start with the story. Ninety percent don’t send in the first fifty pages when requested. Ninety percent talk down to the agent, etc, etc, etc. The secret of this story is found in a sage bit of advice my father offered so often in his life.

“If all else fails, follow directions.”

In the case with authors, you’ll have a better chance of publication than nine out of ten authors by listening to my father. Smart guy and good odds, I’d say.

Until we speak again, I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Tips on How to Find an Agent for Your Novel

Can a novel writer achieve success without an agent?  Of course. All you require are strong marketing skills, a firm grasp of specific technologies, appropriate contacts, a few bucks, a bit of luck, time and perseverance. As you might expect, most of us mere mortals don’t have more than one or two of these, let alone all of them. So, it remains true for most of us, the best route toward success as an author is to place our novel in the capable hands of an agent.

So, how does one go about finding one of these elusive beings? Truth be told? Its difficult. It’s very difficult. However, if you can find that bit of luck, or better yet create your own, there are some things you can do to enhance your prospects.

First and foremost, write that saleable, excellent manuscript to its completion. No exceptions, no excuses. Without a marketable product, the agent has nothing to sell for you and everything else is mute. You may have a magnificent product, but if there is no market to buy it, agents can’t help you. You may have the perfect market, but a substandard novel will never sell. Writing is a business, so deliver a quality product first.

Next, understand two things. Agents are looking for new authors. Every agent wants to land the next Tolstoy or King or Koontz. If you’re not up to the status of these authors, agents will work with you, if you can help make them a living. (No, it’s not all about you and your book.) An agent’s goal is to sell books and they’ll sell your book if you have that marketable product.

The next concept to understand is agents are people too. They’re real people like you and I with children, bosses, vacations, illnesses, bills and all the rest. They’re not horned wild-eyed creatures looking for souls to crush. They actually want you to thrive, for your success breeds their success.

Next, narrow your search to those agents looking for your genre of writing. Consider this. If you’re looking to purchase a new automobile and some guy tries to sell you a table, what are the odds you’ll bite? They’re about the same as an agent who sells children’s books buying your horror story. Don’t waste your time or theirs.

There are any number of avenues by which you might filter the agents to find those who are receptive to your genre.  You can start, of course, with the current “Guide to Literary Agents” at your local bookstore or on the web. You might also consider the Association of Authors’ Representatives Web site at aar-online.org. There is no limit to the resources available to determine which agent will consider your work. Jump on the Internet and get to work.

Next, research the books the appropriate agents have published. This secret just might be one of your most important aspects to landing an agent, by the way. By knowing the agent’s published works, you can compare your manuscript to those they’ve already sold. When you query them later, compare your work to one or more of theirs. As an example, if your novel has exceptionally strong characters, then compare your characters to one or more books the agent has already represented that also have similar characterizations. This gives the agent a handle on what you have to offer and two additional pieces of information. One, you’ve done your research and are knowledgeable about the industry, and two, they already know how to sell your book to their publishers.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll continue with this idea and give you more tips on how to influence an agent to represent you.

Until then, I wish you best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

That Simplest Way to Improve Your Writing

by C. Patrick Schulze

When I completed my first manuscript, I sent my novel to an editor so she could inform me just how many requests for autographs I might receive from my soon to expand fan base. As I’m certain you’ve already surmised, she utterly failed in her task.

Though the manuscript contained more red ink that black when she returned it, one specific note she entered, (and entered and entered…), related to my use of the word, “that.” Though I paraphrase, she indicated that specific word could most often be eliminated without losing any meaning or substance within the sentence. Since then, I’ve found everyone uses that word so often in our everyday speaking we no longer hear it. However, when I read it, it’s now as obvious as a blemish on a prom queen’s nose.

My editor offered a simple trick I still use to this day. The secret, she said, is to read the sentence aloud without the offending word and consider if the meaning of the sentence is lost. If not, the word is unnecessary and it should be cut. Alas, I lost much of my word count during that exercise.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

“What’s the best way to get that accomplished?”

“What’s the best way to get accomplished?”

You see the sentence lacking the word loses something, doesn’t it? It doesn’t make sense. In this case, keep “that” in place.

Another example:

“Organize your files so that you can find things with ease.”

“Organize your files so you can find things with ease.”

It’s obvious in this example the word is not necessary and may be purged. The result is more efficient writing.

The easiest method I’ve found to perform this edit is to use the “Find” feature in your word processing program, then work through the resulting list. It won’t take as long as you think and once you’ve gotten used to not using the word, it becomes second nature.

Now, there is a caveat to, “that,” so I’ll pass it along. The word is still often considered acceptable in formal language. Though I can’t remember the last time I used formal language.

With this said, I tend to leave the word in my dialogue, most often with my less educated characters. For my more educated ones, I do not.

As you work through your edits, try this simple technique and I’ll bet you’ll be surprised how much it improves your writing.

Until we meet again, I wish you only best-sellers.

C. Patrick Schulze

Author of the emerging novel, “Born to be Brothers.”